A cold Pacific storm system brought scattered showers and isolated flash flooding.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
A cold Pacific storm system brought scattered showers and isolated flash flooding.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 6:05 PM PST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 705 PM PDT Wed Mar 20 2019 .SYNOPSIS...A low pressure system will continue to bring abundant clouds, scattered showers, and isolated thunderstorms through Thursday. Friday will bring a break with high pressure before more storm systems begin to impact the region next week. && .UPDATE...Showers with a few embedded thunderstorms continue to rotate through the region this evening. Much of the precipitation has been light, though a few of the better convectively enhanced thundershowers in San Bern and far southern Clark counties have see bursts of moderate to briefly heavy rain. Outside of the showers, occasional bursts of gusty winds have been reported but remain isolated and short-lived. Did not change too much from the previous forecast. Expect precipitation to continue to rotate around the main cyclonic low this evening and early tonight. Showers in San Bern and Clark county should be on the downward trend, but will linger through at least the first part of the night. Further north and east, shower development is expected in response to better forcing from the main upper level low. Continued with likely precipitation chances in Mohave and Lincoln counties overnight. && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...305 PM PDT Wed Mar 20 2019 .SHORT TERM...through Friday. Negatively tilted trough over the region creating streamers of showers, and will continue to do so overnight as the upper-level low closes off briefly and centers over the region overnight tonight through Thursday. Overall amounts look to be light for most locations, but ridgetops are not doing as poorly, liquid amounts have been increased to the half to three-quarter inch range, with less than a tenth for the desert valleys. This will result in probably more than a few inches above 7000 ft, with crests topping out at around a foot through tomorrow. Expect the cold pool aloft to trigger numerous showers north/west of I-15 on Thursday, even with a clap of thunder or two in Lincoln and Mohave counties before the low begins to lift out of the region and high pressure builds in for Friday. .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday Ridge will transition east early Saturday ahead of a trough off the California coast. This trough is expected to swing through the Great Basin Saturday afternoon with much of the energy remaining across northern and central Nevada. The models, which are in fairly good agreement show precipitation reaching the southern Sierra Saturday morning and then spreading east into Esmeralda and central Nye Counties and eventually Lincoln County by Saturday afternoon. Precipitation amounts look generally light with areas receiving less than a quarter of an inch of rain. Snow amounts also aren't overly impressive with 4-6 inches in the Sierra and around 2-4 inches in the higher elevations of Lincoln County. The models are hinting at some showers reaching as far south as the Spring Mountains, but overall amounts are not expected to be impressive. Will need to watch for the potential of thunder across mainly central Nye and Lincoln Counties as the cold pool aloft moves overhead. Instability isn't impressive, but one or two lightning strikes are not out of the question. This system will quickly move through with some lingering light showers Sunday morning over the far eastern zones. This will be followed by a ridge that will dominate the weather Sunday afternoon through Tuesday. The models are hinting at another system impacting the area Wednesday, but like the previous system much of the energy should remain across northern and central Nevada with only chance pops across the Sierra and far northern zones. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Periodic off and on shower activity will be in the vicinity of the valley through the next 24 hours. Main question is whether this precip will be able to reach the ground with the dry atmosphere in place currently. Precip values, if any, should be minimal and not result in visibility restrictions. There is a very low confidence but non-zero possibility for gusty winds associated with a downburst through the evening hours which could result in wind impacts to the terminal if so. Prevailing winds should stay relatively light, with only minor gusts to 20 kts expected this afternoon. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Other than some off and on shower activity across the region, little impact is expected to area terminals. Outside chance for an isolated downburst could result in abrupt wind direction and speed chances if in the vicinity of the valley or KDAG/KEED/KIFP but this is very low confidence. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && Update...Wolf Short Term...Steele Aviation.....TB3 Long Term....Gorelow For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Edwards AFB radar (KEYX), 162 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:12 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A mud slide covered Highway 190 with several feet of mud between Badwater Rd and Ryan Rd. Several cars were stuck in the mud.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 2019
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 814658.